Mazda is the only Asian automaker to take an overall win in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the victory coming in 1991 with the rotary-powered 787B. Now the automaker is returning to Le Mans, this time with diesel power.

Following up on its announcement that it would build a turbocharged 4-cylinder racing diesel for Grand Am's GX class, Mazda will develop the same basic engine for the LMP2 class of the World Endurance Championship and the American Le Mans Series.

In both cases, the engine uses the stock main block, lower block cradle and head of the 2.2-liter production diesel. Added is a dual-compound turbocharger with 55-58 psi of boost. Other internal pieces will depend somewhat on the final rules of each class. Components needed to fit the engine to the appropriate chassis will be adapted for each series. It's anticipated the GX version will yield around 400 bhp with the LMP2 edition at some 450 bhp, depending on the final rules.

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One of the first customers for the engine will be racer/actor Patrick Dempsey, who plans to compete in the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans in LMP2. The engines are being developed by SpeedSource Race Engineering in Coral Springs, Florida, working with Mazda North America.

By entering the LMP2 class, Mazda will make it a three-way Japanese battle for the class title, as Nissan and Honda are already major players in LMP2.